Midnight benches

Hope you had nice holidays and are ready for New Year's celebration :)

So, I have this very non-Christmassy photo of benches at Jana Palacha square for you. I took it a midnight before Christmas Eve. And as it was absolutely empty then, it will be absolutely crowded tomorrow midnight.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Prague

I wish you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
... and thanks for stopping by and for your comments :)

Christmas tree at Jana Palacha square

One of the most beautiful Christmas trees in Prague. Located at Jana Palacha square.
I can compare, I've seen and shot dozens of them in last few days. They are everywhere :)

Just wondering, do you know movie called Once?

Something strange in our library

I really like our library. They just do things the right way.
This is the latest exhibition. It is a heart with many interesting things inside - it works almost like a big tent. It occupies the children section and I believe it's very popular among the children. At least I liked it :)

Christmas tree at Novy Smichov shopping center

Christmas tree at Novy Smichov shopping center. I spoke with the guy in black a moment after taking the photo. He asked, very politely, to shoot only the tree and nothing else.

We were shooting in Vankovka shopping center in Brno last weekend - and nobody cared. (it was crowded)
We were shooting in Palladium shopping center few weeks ago - and nobody cared. (we got a few shots like this and this, none of them were Czech)

Adidas store

Adidas store front at Andel. I can't tell you if they're good. I was there only once, few years ago. But they are facing the Village cinemas multiplex which - I can tell you - is good :) And it works kind of like a see all you can. They check the tickets only at one place. After that nobody knows which of some 15 cinemas you went in. And then you can go to another cinema and so on. Well, there's one disadvantage: it is not legal.

There's a second multiplex cinema just over the street. They have some 10 cinemas in here. So Andel is quite a good place to be if you want to go to a cinema.

In other news: Prague's traffic was absolutely terribly jammed today and Tesco store at Narodni trida street is opened till midnight during Christmas (usual is till 10pm). A thing you really appreciate after spending several unplanned hours in above mentioned Prague's traffic.

Night walk on the river bank

Hotel at Zitna and Pricna streets corner

Once again photo with a Christmas tree. This time in a hotel at the corner of Zitna and Pricna streets.

It's getting cold in Prague

It's getting cold in Prague these days. And I'm talking about that freezy-windy cold. Still, the thermometer reads only -3 degrees.

Christmas trees

Christmas trees on the streets.
Christmas parties.
Now it's time for some Christmas shopping.

Prague ZOO's Guerrilla in action

I just found this image from summer and I think it perfectly illustrates how most of the guerrilla campaigns in Prague looks like (this one with parrots being for Prague ZOO). The agencies use tram stops. Well, if I have to spend money on advertising in Prague, I would use tram stops too. The second step would be the ads on trams.

Bila labut department store

Bila labut department store is one of the three big-old-well-known Prague department stores. It's at Na Porici street, near Florenc station and in seeing distance from Palladium. "Bila labut" means "white swan" and I think you can locate the store in the picture very well right now :) There's also a book store called Cerna labut ("Black swan") at Bila labut ground floor. I was visiting it quite often to find textbooks for school and I bought my Berlin guide book here, too :)

Post office's cars

Cars that deliver post in Prague. Parked near Florenc and Masarykovo train station.

And this is how Old Town square looks during the day

Old Town square getting ready for Christmas

This is from the last week when Old Town square was getting ready for Christmas. It's full of lights, stands and people now. And it's quite pretty :)

I was in Zilina, which is in Slovakia, from Friday and I have to tell you that it is an amazing city. Even though I actually spent only about an hour in the city itself. I will definitely visit it again, this time just as a tourists to enjoy it :)

Kotva store at night

Kotva store can look so old. When you're facing the brand new Palladium shopping center there is actually no choice but to look old.

Being fast at the crossing

A real snapshot :)
Dlouha street to the right. Old Town square to the left.

Sometimes it's almost like not in winter

This close to Christmas one would expect a whole another weather in Central Europe.

Senzor gallery and Samaya Endowment Fund

Senzor Gallery and shop of Samaya Endowment Fund opened today.
You can find out more about Samaya here.
You can see more about that head here.
And you can visit this place while you'll be in Prague :) It's just a few steps from Old Town square and they have a lot of paintings, photos and other interesting stuff here.

Friday night post office queue

Isn't it great that you can spend your Friday night waiting in a queue in front of a post office? I bet the last man has at least an hour of waiting ahead. Maybe two. I've been through this too.

Theme day: Bridges

We have amazing Charles bridge in Prague. But for us there are some more important bridges. Such as Hlavkuv bridge which is one of the main veins of Prague traffic. Empty only at night.

You can go and see other 127 bridges all over the world now:
Boston (MA), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - New York City (NY), USA - Portland (OR), USA - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Inverness (IL), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Stockholm, Sweden - Setúbal, Portugal - Brussels, Belgium - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Hyde, UK - Manila, Philippines - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - London, England - Austin (TX), USA - Toulouse, France - Weston (FL), USA - Sesimbra, Portugal - Selma (AL), USA - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Saarbrücken, Germany - Cleveland (OH), USA - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - American Fork (UT), USA - Seoul, South Korea - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - North Bay (ON), Canada - Arradon, France - Paderborn, Germany - Durban, South Africa - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Prague, Czech Republic - Portland (OR), USA - Greenville (SC), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Wichita (Ks), USA - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Grenoble, France - New York City (NY), USA - Nottingham, UK - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Arlington (VA), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Miami (FL), USA - Cheltenham, UK - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Saratoga Spgs. (NY), USA - Las Vegas (NV), USA - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Nashville (TN), USA - Toruń, Poland - New Orleans (LA), USA - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Melbourne, Australia - Moscow, Russia - Trujillo, Peru - Château-Gontier, France - Quincy (MA), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Joplin (MO), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Brookville (OH), USA - Chateaubriant, France - Chandler (AZ), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Baziège, France - Auckland, New Zealand - Wellington, New Zealand - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Subang Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Detroit (MI), USA - Riga, Latvia - Nelson, New Zealand - Budapest, Hungary - Cape Town, South Africa - Sydney, Australia - Dunedin (FL), USA - Sofia, Bulgaria - Radonvilliers, France - Turin, Italy - Montpellier, France - Kansas City (MO), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Wailea (HI), USA - Lubbock (TX), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Terrell (TX), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Budapest, Hungary - Montréal (QC), Canada - Sharon (CT), USA - Le Guilvinec, France - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Saigon, Vietnam - London, UK - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Orlando (FL), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Paris, France - Mainz, Germany - Newcastle (NSW), Australia - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Darmstadt, Germany - Naples (FL), USA - Torino, Italy - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Bogor, Indonesia - The Hague, Netherlands - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Melbourne (VIC), Australia - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Christchurch, New Zealand

Praha, Masarykovo nadrazi

Masarykovo nadrazi train station at the lonely side.

Cinderella

When I'm not in Prague, we are most likely looking for Cinderella.

And we are having theme day on Daily City blogs on Saturday. Hope you'll like it :)

Stepanska street and Darling cabaret limousine

The most visible and know limousine in Prague. In the possession of Darling Cabaret, which is in the street parallel to Stepanska street, also leading to Wenceslas square.
Friend of mine has a limousine. He likes that he can work while traveling. The other friend goes to weddings etc. And the third one just wanted to have a limousine, no other reasons.

Prague Public transport ticket on your mobile phone

We have a great new thing in Prague's public transport system. You can buy your ticket simply by sending short message from your mobile phone. No need to buy it at a vending machine, to put all those coins inside it and then having the ticket validated in a validating machine. You just write "DPT", send it to the phone number 9020620 and few moments later you have the "SMS ticket" in your phone. Sure, it is a little dangerous when you run down the stairs to the metro station trying to write and send that message... but it is so much faster.

Night of the ad eaters

It was Night of the ad eaters on Friday and Saturday in Prague and you can see two necessary things here: the wristlet to access the cinema and the hand to shake after each ad (or to shake it in the rhythm of the ad's music :). They were playing this 6 hour marathon on all 10 screens of Palace Cinemas cinema simultaneously without a pause... only that there were a minute long "ad" for pause and when almost everybody went out the "ad" ended and the screening of regular ads continued. Well, we used it to go and see the accompanying program of the night. So no complains.

Municipal House

Municipal House in the background. In the inside they have new exhibition of Josef Lada paintings.

Christmas tree on Kotva store

Back from Slovakia after two days. With typical Christmas tree on the Kotva store. The couple standing below it kissed a second later I took this shot. And stopped kissing second before I made the second one.

Backstreet politicians

One of the backstreet near Old Town square. I was going round for years and never thought that this is an actual street. And it is. Even more, it saves you a few steps when you go from Old Town Square to places I usually go :)
Speaking of backstreet, do you know where Backstreet boys have their signing session on Thursday? (It is not in Prague, nor in Czech republic.)

Yellow Lamborghini at V Celnici street

V Celnici street is a little street that doesn't look so expensive at the first sight. But at the second you will find really luxury restaurants and fashion shops as well as the Prague Marriott Hotel here. So that Lamborghini is at the best spot.

I prefer book - Levne knihy

NO! I PREFER BOOK! - Levne knihy's ad facing one of their book stores at Wenceslas square. And this is a BIG ad. Levne knihy, translated to English Cheap books, is a book shop chain with, you guessed it, cheap books. They have their own line of classic literature and you can find some really good encyclopedia type of books here - often for a fragment of their original price. They have also a lot of old music CDs with classic, jazz, rock'n'roll and also some of the popstars of 80s and 90s whom most of the people wouldn't know today. They are usually from 50 to 150 Kc (that's roughly 2 to 5,50 Euro).
I'm saving the best for the last. They also have their own DVD line of classic films including such as from Francois Truffaut, Roman Polanski, Wim Wenders, Akira Kurosawa, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodóvar, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini and films with Pierre Richard and Louis de Funès. Well, there are more. All of them for 99 Kc (about 3,70 Euro). These are the best Christmas gifts :)

By the way, what do you read now?
I'll start with mine's: Sue Townsend's The growing pains of Adrian Mole and Charles Bukowski's Hot Water Music.

November 17

November 17 is the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day in the Czech Republic. Which means that lot of people have a reason to make a gathering or a demonstration. The spot in the upper part of Wenceslas square is the usual place for it.

Blurred Prague Castle

Back in Prague after two days in Karvina. Snow is finally here in the Czech republic. I can tell after five hours night drive to Prague. Well, we were the lucky ones. Others waited for hours at the roads jammed by a dozens and dozens of trucks unable to climb them.

Horses at Jana Palacha square

They are quite common here. And popular, too. The main "station" for these horses and carriages is at Old Town square from where you can go on a romantic old-fashioned ride around the historic Prague.

Prague is gold at night

This building looks fabulous at night. Even much better than in the photo.

Vaclav Spala gallery at Narodni trida street

Vernissage at Vaclav Spala gallery at Narodni trida street. At least I think it was a vernissage. It looked like it.

My favourite steps near Prague castle

One from the summer archive: my favourite steps at Prague castle.
There's a pub at the top (you can sit outside and just enjoy the atmosphere) and at the bottom starts Nerudova street. With Prague castle around the corner.

Vlrava river, Strelecky island and Petrin hill

Vltava river, Slovansky island to the left, Strelecky island right in front and Petrin hill on the horizon.

PS: Slovansky island to the left is the place where we play petangue (when the weather is not so cold = in summer).

Lights at Tesco - Christmas is coming

There's a Tesco store at Narodni trida street. It has a grocery store underneath. And when you take the escalator to get up above the ground, this is the exact view you will see. I had to take a picture. It felt so... Christmas :)

Night soccer at Mala Stupartska

It's so cold outside and these guys are playing soccer (or football as we say here) in t-shirts and shorts.
This playground belonged to my high school and we used to play soccer and volleyball here. Those were good times :) It's at Mala Stupartska street and just a side note: Roxy, one of the most known club in Prague, is just around the corner.

Slavia cafe and National theatre

Slavia cafe may be Prague's most known cafe. Although cafe Le Havre - about 2 minutes from here, also at Narodni trida street, which is the street with the tram in the picture - is more popular these days. There's only one thing better in Slavia: the view on Prague castle. And that building on the right is National theatre.

Prague Orloj and Old Town square

Well, this is it: Prague Orloj at Old Town square. Ten minutes after The Walk of the Apostles. Fifty minutes to the next show. There' s a lot of information on this Astronomical clock... but only for those who know. Like guys at Wikipedia :) Just read more about Prague Orloj there.

Full house every hour - Prague Orloj

There's a crowd every hour. Everybody wants to see how Prague Orloj, or Prague Astronomical Clock, at Old Town square works. It is quite spectacular if you keep in mind that all that show is here since the 15th century.

Well, this video on YouTube would show you more.

There's one more video where you can see the in front of Prague Orloj. It's mine :) and I took it during a friends wedding. You can see it on YouTube, too.

Saturday morning work talk

Well, if bus drivers weren't working on Saturday morning I would have a really long and tough walk. Here they are, having their morning schift talk, coffee and cigarette.

Smichovske nadrazi station.

Babylonia of Colors

One of the back streets near Narodni trida street. It kind of goes around a church which is to the left here. And Babylonia is sauna and fitness place as I just found out with a little help from my friend Google.

Night ballet lessons

They have ballet lessons here. He stayed at the window only for a few seconds. Then he jumped away. Ballet is a hard work.

Blue in Red - The Colour blue Theme day

It's a theme day at Daily city blogs today! And the theme is The Colour blue. I picked this photo of Swarovski shop near Old Town square because of their blue decorations. I think this should work for "The Colour red" day, too. But I missed that one months ago. Just for your info: they sold Versace here more than ten years ago when Versace was at its top. But that is not important now. Lets go visit the other participants in this blue theme day:

Boston (MA), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Arlington (VA), USA - Cape Town, South Africa - Portland (OR), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Arradon, France - Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Stockholm, Sweden - Singapore, Singapore - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Toulouse, France - The Hague, Netherlands - Moscow, Russia - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Stayton (OR), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Detroit (MI), USA - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Nelson, New Zealand - Bandung (West Java), Indonesia - Greenville (SC), USA - Hyde, UK - Radonvilliers, France - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Nashville (TN), USA - Manila, Philippines - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Saarbrücken, Germany - New Orleans (LA), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Forks (WA), USA - Wichita (Ks), USA - Barton (VT), USA - St. Louis (MO), USA - Joplin (MO), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Quincy (MA), USA - Setúbal, Portugal - Inverness (IL), USA - Christchurch, New Zealand - Toruń, Poland - North Bay (ON), Canada - Le Guilvinec, France - Chateaubriant, France - London, England - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Naples (FL), USA - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - Sydney, Australia - Austin (TX), USA - Mumbai, India - Boston (MA), USA - Santa Fe (NM), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Paderborn, Germany - Montréal (QC), Canada - Jackson (MS), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Orlando (FL), USA - Grenoble, France - Cheltenham, UK - Forks (WA), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Weston (FL), USA - London, UK - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Belgrade, Serbia - Paris, France - Shanghai, China - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Montpellier, France - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Auckland, New Zealand - Evry, France - New York City (NY), USA - Nottingham, UK - Las Vegas (NV), USA - Oslo, Norway - Minneapolis (MN), USA - American Fork (UT), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Trujillo, Peru - Trujillo, Peru - Melbourne (VIC), Australia - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Durban, South Africa - Brussels, Belgium - Anderson (SC), USA - Budapest, Hungary - Wellington, New Zealand - Prague, Czech Republic - Saigon, Vietnam - Ystad, Sweden - Miami (FL), USA - Seoul, South Korea - Hong Kong, China - Melbourne, Australia - Baziège, France - Greensboro (NC), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Kajang (Selangor), Malaysia

This way to Charles bridge

Still so many people in here. The building in the back is Prague's Film and TV school "FAMU". And this street leads to Charles bridge.

Porsche Carrera at Marianske square

At Marianske square on my way from the library (which is here at Marianske square). Without any books. Somebody was quicker than me. And yes, I am into Porsches :)

Kathi's tip: Music store in Rybna street

Thank you Kathi for the song, tabs and music store tip. The store in Rybna street still exists and I'm gonna visit it on Saturday. As well as try that song you recommended me. I can't wait :)